Tens Of Thousands Of Romanians Protest Corruption, Demand New GovernmentRallies in Bucharest and other cities were largely organized by expatriates who came home to demonstrate en masse. Police responded violently on Friday, but protests continued on Saturday and Sunday.

Anti-government protesters rally at Victoriei Square in front of government headquarters in Bucharest, Romania, on Sunday. Hundreds were injured during Friday's mass demonstration.

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For three days in a row, throngs of protesters took to the streets in Romania's capital city, Bucharest, to protest what they see as a corrupt government and to call for new elections.

Tens of thousands of people rallied Friday on the first day of demonstrations, which were largely organized by Romanian expatriates who came home to demonstrate en masse; some estimates put the crowd at 100,000.

It ended in violence. Romania Insider reports that on Friday night, some aggressive protesters, possibly football hooligans, began clashing with police. (Football hooligans frequently appear at political protests in Romania.) In response, riot police reportedly fired tear gas, smoke grenades and a water cannon into the crowd at Victoriei Square in Bucharest, which also included many peaceful protesters.

Rallies in Bucharest and other major Romanian cities were peaceful on Sunday, Reuters reports.

"About 15,000 people rallied in front of the government headquarters in the capital on Sunday, whistling, blowing vuvuzelas and shouting 'Corruption kills! Resignation!' " the wire service writes. "They also chanted 'Thieves, thieves,' waving Romanian, U.S., NATO and European Union flags."

People wave Romanian national flags during a demonstration against the government on Saturday, during the second day of protests.
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Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images

People wave Romanian national flags during a demonstration against the government on Saturday, during the second day of protests.

Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images

The Associated Press reports that the protesters were calling for Romania's left-wing government to resign:

"The expatriates supporting the event in Bucharest, some of whom drove across Europe to attend, said they were angry at how Romania is being governed. Critics say the country has lost ground in fighting corruption since the ruling Social Democratic Party assumed power in 2016.

"An estimated 3 million Romanians live abroad, and some say they left because of corruption, low wages and a lack of opportunities.

Among other things, protesters pointed to recent efforts by the ruling party to weaken the judiciary. Critics say changes the proposed changes could be used to lessen punishment for elected officials convicted of wrongdoing, Bloomberg writes.

The head of the ruling Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, was sentenced to prison earlier this year for a case related to abuses of power, but he remains in office as the case is appealed. Dragnea was previously convicted of election fraud.

"Romania is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in Europe and it's been that way for years," NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson wrote in 2014.

In 2015, Romania's prime minister — a member of the Social Democratic Party who was tried for corruption, fraud and tax evasion while he was in office — resigned after a deadly nightclub fire that was blamed in part on corruption and poor safety oversight.